The final fight in the film is probably the best that “Prey” has to offer. Not only is it filled with the creativity and intensity of the rest of the fights before it, but is the movie’s emotional crux. Throughout “Prey,” Naru had been fighting to prove herself to others. From the story’s beginning hunt, which saw her and her brother attempting to kill a lion, she’s told to “bring it home” and get the job done. Her brother mutters these words to her one more time before getting killed by the Predator, making this last hunt much more emotional than the usual third-act “Predator” fights. Moreover, Naru again displays her ingenuity in traps she sets for the Predator.
Throughout the film, the Predator had been displayed with incredible brute strength and efficiency with every gadget it had at its disposal. The seemingly impossible odds would be flipped on their head, with Naru using the environment she knows to her advantage. Moreover, her smaller stature allows her to evade the Predator skillfully, even taking its helmet. This final confrontation is a testament to “Prey’s” tight script, with no scene feeling extraneous: Calling back to a moment much earlier in the film, which saw Naru nearly drown in a mud pit, the Predator is similarly trapped. Naru then killing it with its own targeting helmet is a stroke of genius.
